Mofongo!!

It’s not often that you discover a flavour combination that surprises you. Or a way of preparing ingredients where the final result is a revelation, but tonight we had some fun preparing mofongo with a seafood stew. The recipe is loosely based on this blog entry here from the Noshery, but I made a few changes. I liked this so much, I had to write it down.

First, I started with the seafood stew. Starting with sautéing finely chopped red onion, garlic and red capsicum. Then, when that was softened, I added some chopped cherry tomatoes, some chicken stock and some smoked paprika, cumin, and achiote paste. I then added some raw prawn meat and some fresh coriander and left it to simmer gently.

Then onto the mofongo! First, making the pilon, combining garlic, oil, white wine vinegar, fresh coriander and salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle. Then frying sliced green plantains, and once they are soft, adding them to the pilon and crushing them up. This is essential, as the hot plantain blends and heats the pilon so that the flavours develop. Once all the plantain is added, add some fried pork rinds and crush them into it.

The final step is to add the mussels to the seafood broth, then season and add some more fresh coriander. Then place a mound of the mofongo in a large bowl, surround by a portion of the seafood stew and top with some more fried pork rind.

The resulting dish is great – the mashed plantain enriches the broth, while the crispy fried edges and the pork rinds add texture. The vinegar brightens the broth as well, giving a fresh and light character that I wasn’t expecting.